


of king and country

by nicole_writes



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, But the ending does not go according to plan, Character Death, Faerghus is a mess, Fodlan is a bigger one, Gen, I make a mess of the ending of Three Houses, Implied Annette/Felix, Implied Mercedes/Dedue, Nonbinary My Unit | Byleth, Post-Blue Lions Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), implied sylvain/ingrid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28144113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicole_writes/pseuds/nicole_writes
Summary: The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is old and proud and under the leadership of House Blaiddyd before and during the war. After, some things have to change.
Relationships: Blue Lions Students & My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 11
Kudos: 20





	of king and country

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really not one for experimental form, but I was trying to work on optimistic pieces and I had a strange thought that kind of derailed my processes tonight.

The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is old. It’s not as old as the Adrestian Empire, but it’s old enough to have birthed the Leicester Alliance. The Kingdom is old and has been led by the Blaiddyd family for hundreds of years, dating back to their lineage of the old heroes. Faerghus has had a king for hundreds of years, but for five years during the war, Faerghus was fractured. Between the Loyalists in the East and the Imperial-backed Dukedom in the West, Faerghus was splintered and breaking down the middle. 

Until the lost prince, said to have been executed at the dawn of the war, rose from the woods. The whispers called him a murderer and a mad man and a monster who killed and slaughtered and clawed his way through his opposition for five long years. 

Behind him, and through the guidance of a figure in the spitting image of the ancient goddess, Faerghus unites and the Kingdom comes together enough to rally a war cry. The war effort springs forward, pushing against the relentless tide of the Empire’s crusade and the tide shifts. 

Fhirdiad, the pinnacle of old Faerghus, is reclaimed through the blood and the tears of the army’s fighters and the Kingdom puts a crown on Prince Dimitri’s head, elevating him to the rank of King, just like his father before him and his father’s father before him. 

The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is old, but it is not defeated. It pushes back and pushes forward and soon the Empire starts to crumble. The battle reaches the streets of Enbarr which are older than Fhirdiad and older than Faerghus, but the greatness of the northern kingdom is not slowed as it pushes forward. 

The King and his right hand disappear through a closed door into a throne room for a confrontation fitting of a victory’s elegy. Two people enter the throne room. The army waits in silence for the inevitable end of the war, one way or another. 

Only one figure leaves, sword in hand, and expression empty. Behind them lie the bodies of Old Faerghus and Old Adrestia: King and Emperor slain by each other’s hand. There is silence in the palace of Enbarr as the one they once called professor drops their sword to the stone. 

The sound it makes is deafening. 

The King of Faerghus is dead. The Adrestian Empire has fallen. The war is over. 

* * *

The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus does not know how to be led without a king. House Blaiddyd has no heirs. Its bloodline ended in Enbarr with the loss of King Dimitri. House Fraldarius, led by the newly-dubbed Duke, and House Gautier, with its seasoned Head of House, occupy Fhirdiad and try to tame the madness. 

The army returns to Garreg Mach to regroup. 

The former professor, a commoner, a mercenary, a leader, unites the Church as the new archbishop. 

In Fhirdiad, someone whispers that they should unite the whole kingdom under the Church of Seiros, just to make it stick. Others balk at the idea because the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is an old country and it is a proud country. It will not be led by someone of common blood, Crest of Flames or not. 

At first, the Kingdom goes digging up the lineage, looking for anyone with a drop of Blaiddyd blood who can be elevated to the rank of king of this new, united country. They find no one. Rufus, the previous regent, was killed at the onset of the war and his family was extinguished by the Dukedom shortly after. The Blaiddyd bloodline died with Dimitri. 

From there, the fractures spread.

* * *

The old Alliance says that House Riegan should stand for the throne, claiming that their own splintered lineage from House Blaiddyd all that time ago should make them worthy of making a claim. It is an idea considered by Faerghus until they realize that Claude von Riegan, the last of House Riegan’s bloodline, has vanished. 

The Kingdom loyalists are glad that Riegan stands empty. It means the Alliance is weak and will fold under whatever structure that the Kingdom places upon it to collect it back into their service. Gloucester is too hated, Goneril too isolated, Daphnel too powerless, Edmund too new, and Ordelia too empty to stand for the spot. 

The old Leicester Alliance folds to the older Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. 

* * *

The Fhirdiad court pushes for a king. The nobility of Faerghus scrambles. Dominic and Charon and Fraldarius and Gautier hold the most sway and only one of them offers enough stability to stand for the throne. 

Margrave Gautier pushes for his son to ascend the throne. The younger Gautier had served with the King, had fought the Sreng in the north, had been a part of the movement to uproot the tyranny of the Imperial Dukedom.

Sylvain Jose Gautier could, and maybe should, be king. 

The country is torn. The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is old and its powerful figures want a Crested figure with a strong noble bloodline to take the reins of the kingdom. Half the Kingdom clamours for Duke Fraldarius, who has just as much experience as Sylvain Jose Gautier with a better reputation, and some even call for Lady Galatea or Lady Charon to claim the mantle as king. 

A bold few suggest that the Kingdom should fall to the hands of the people. 

Those few are filled with the voices of the young who have fought and bled and watched their friends die for the united kingdom they now have the right to build. The voices belong to the young nobles and the commoners of the Officer’s Academy who fought alongside King Dimitri, raising Relics and other blades in his name. 

The voices of Lord Gautier and Duke Fraldarius and Lady Galatea and Lady Charon and Lady Dominic are among the few who call for an end to the monarchy. It drives a wedge through the centre of House Gautier and through the courts of Fhirdiad. 

Just because he should, doesn’t mean he will. And Sylvain Jose Gautier will not stand as King of Faerghus. Neither will Duke Fraldarius nor Lady Galatea nor Lady Charon. 

Faerghus comes to a stand-still.

* * *

Those who remain of those who fought in the war gather at Garreg Mach. They used to be foes and friends and classmates and inside the walls of the monastery, the politics fall away. They are safe from the eyes of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus that is eating itself alive in its desire to find a king. 

They are the old Blue Lions, who fought alongside the Knights of Seiros to curb the relentless push of the Adrestian Empire. They are the members of the old Leicester Alliance who got tied up on battlefields because of miscommunications. They are members of the Adrestian nobility and common persons who fled when then battles reached their homelands. 

They are old foes, most recently having met on the battlefield, but inside the monastery, under the eyes of the new Archbishop, their histories fall away. 

The Blue Lions–Gautier, Fraldarius, Dominic, Galatea, and other unimportant names–grieve. They bury their king and turn over their Relics and sing songs of victory and mourning. They sleep with each other and wreck friendships and get married in silent, quiet ceremonies of little grandeur. Gautier joins Galatea and Dominic joins Fraldarius. One of them stands for House Gaspard and tells them of the plight of the western lords. 

The others grieve for Duscur and the honour of their once-great kingdom that has fallen so far to take entire peoples down with them. They bow their heads to their old friend, who teaches them his language and the culture he can remember.

The Knights of Seiros keep the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus at bay. The archbishop protects their former students from parents and the prying eyes of the world around them so that they may grieve in peace. 

The archbishop tells the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus that there will be no replacing the king that fell in Enbarr. That king was not fighting for the Kingdom. That king was fighting for the future. That very future is represented by those that seek solace in the monastery away from the archaic ways of the old Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. 

Byleth Eisner drops their title and tells the people to take what is theirs. 

The old Kingdom of Faerghus is outnumbered and the fractures are too large to stitch back together. 

* * *

After what feels like weeks but could be months or even years, the monastery empties slowly. 

In Leicester, the Alliance unites under the careful guidance of House Goneril, but the nobility cedes power to the people, establishing something that looks almost like reform. To their east, they make peace with Almyra. 

Hilda Goneril sees her old friend again when the King of Almyra makes the peace permanent. She is the last of the Golden Deer. 

* * *

In Adrestia, the old noble houses, those that couped the Emperor years ago, crumble to dust. Dorothea Arnault, one of two Black Eagles to join the Kingdom’s march, leads a citizenry hell-bent on reform to destroy the ancient structures of Enbarr and hands it over to the people who build a republic that is meant to last. 

With the last of her songs taken away, Dorothea Arnault retires to Brigid where the young Queen accepts her with open arms. They are the last of the Black Eagles. 

* * *

In Faerghus, the youth leads their revolt.

Catherine Charon abandons her title for good, staking her claim in the Knights of Seiros. Ashe Ubert returns to Gaspard and collects the lands of Rowe under the rule of a fair, thoughtful lord. The Western Lords follow his lead. 

Mercedes von Martritz returns to Fhirdiad hand in hand with Dedue Molinaro. They sing the songs of Duscur and they call the people of Duscur to rebuild empty earth and dust to a prosperous new home, independent of the broken politics of the old Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. 

Duke Fraldarius takes the side of the younger Gautier and they take Fhirdiad from the lords who would not see the death of the old kingdom. Annette Fantine Dominic stands at Felix Hugo Fraldarius’s side and raises her own army of young, independent women and mages to stand for themselves. 

Ingrid Brandl Galatea dissolves her house and brings wealth to her lands from the coiffeurs of Fhirdiad’s richest, giving them promises of a better future backed from the pockets of Gautier, the House she can lay partial claim to. 

Sylvain Jose Gautier and Felix Hugo Fraldarius stand together in the centre of Fhirdiad and declare an end to the monarchy, offering their guidance in a period of transition. They elevate their friends and their wives and they step into the future together. 

They are the Blue Lions, minus one. 

* * *

At Garreg Mach Monastery, Byleth Eisner bids farewell to Seteth and Flayn. Byleth Eisner watches the seasons change. They see Claude in the blazing sunrise and Dimitri in the roaring flames and Edelgard in the heat of the sunset. They see the Lions and the Eagles and the Deer move into the future and time preserves them: body and soul. 

The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is old and cracked and it crumbles to dust. The Leicester Alliance is new and fragile and bends to the rise of the new world. The Adrestian Empire is ancient and empty and faded from view. 

This is not the unity they had promised. That dream died in Enbarr: slain on the floor of the throne room of the Imperial Palace. But this is a future that has been fought for and earned. It is not the one they had wanted, but in a broken nation, torn by years of war and strife and hatred, it is the closest to peace that they can manage. 

* * *

Many years later, the King of Almyra lands his wyvern in the courtyard. His hair is longer and his skin darker. He crosses his arms and nods to his welcoming party. His smile is the same. 

“Nice nation you’ve got here, Teach,” Khalid says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

Byleth, no older than they were when it began, can only smile. “I am no king,” they say plainly. “This is their country, not mine.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I don't know how I feel about this, but I was encouraged to post it, so I did. I wrote it so I might as well get it out there.
> 
> I kind of feel like a lot of the reforms that are carried out in the epilogues of three houses still lean heavily into the old power structures, naturally, but I guess this was just an exercise of what happens when the entire structure is destroyed and they attempt to rebuild. do the three tenuous new countries (one nation) actually survive? likely no. but in an effort made by those who fought for that freedom, they tried.


End file.
